After the horrors of the Second World War ravaged Europe, countries were left in a state of disunity and wariness. Eleven years after the Allies’ victory in 1945, Marcel Bezençon, the Swiss director of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), desired to unify the broken nations through the power of showmanship and friendly competition.
Inspired by Italy’s Sanremo Music Festival, Bezençon began constructing an unprecedented televised song contest with several European nations as its contestants. The first contest was relatively small, with the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, and Italy as its sole participants. Despite its humble beginnings, the first decade of the song contest’s conception was its most formative. Several long-lasting traditions were born in these years, such as the contest’s time-honored tradition of the winning country hosting the competition the following year.
The early Eurovision was a far cry from the contest that it is today. Despite the event’s modest origins with only seven countries participating, it has since grown to include thirty-seven countries (this year, that is; the number fluctuates), and some non-European countries such as Israel, Australia, Armenia, and Morocco have all participated. Another key difference is that specific requirements have changed. For example, the early Eurovision only allowed solo artists to compete. Nowadays, bands are a common occurrence. Furthermore, while the first Eurovision’s voting was limited to a panel of juries, now there is a convoluted voting system with three separate groups participating: the audience, professional juries, and the “rest of the world” (this is when representatives from a particular country assign a set amount of points to three countries of their choice). One of the only requirements from the original Eurovision is that the song entry must be under three minutes long.
Despite the contest’s availability due to its televised nature, Eurovision’s popularity peaked in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This was primarily due to the internet accessibility that provided the song contest with a larger audience, particularly with the addition of young viewers. Thanks to the explosion in popularity, Eurovision has persisted for nearly seven decades after its conception. The contest even received a Guinness World Record as the longest-running annual televised song contest 2015.
Even though it is certainly not a household name in the United States, Eurovision has had a semblance of influence in the States. Although most Americans do not know the contest, certain artists and songs have gone from Eurovision to the United States. For example, French-Canadian singer Celine Dion, primarily recognized for her performance of “My Heart Will Go On” in “Titanic,” grew in popularity after winning the contest in 1988. Furthermore, songs such as “Waterloo” by ABBA, “SNAP” by Rosa Linn, “Arcade” by Duncan Laurence, and “Gladiator” by Jann all made their debut as entries in the song contest, but have made their way into the crevices of American culture.
What began as a man’s attempt to bring about unity between broken countries, Eurovision, blossomed into a cultural phenomenon. Despite its humble beginnings, the competition has become a time-honored tradition for many European families, and even for some individuals in the United States. Eurovision is undoubtedly a unique and treasured culmination of history and culture, and it’s near-miraculous that the event has continued for as long as it has. True to tradition, the upcoming 69th annual Eurovision Song Contest will occur in May, particularly from May 13-17 of 2025.
